On January 9th, 20 years ago, I married my best friend! Marriage is such a beautiful, but hard thing. It is also an amazing picture of Jesus Christ and the church, His bride. Four years ago, I didn't know if we would reach this milestone after Wayne was diagnosed with GBM brain cancer, which has a 12-18 month life expectancy. We decided to celebrate this special occasion with a trip away. At first we talked about going away to some exotic island for a week, but decided that we wanted to stay in the states and not have to fly anywhere since Wayne doesn't do well on long plane rides anymore. As I was looking into options, I received an email about the G3 Conference (a Bible conference) being held in Atlanta during our trip. We have wanted to attend the G3 Conference for a few years. We decided that we could have a nice trip away from the kids in Georgia. Wayne, being so thoughtful, asked if there were any races in Alabama during that time, since I have not run that state. I discovered that there was a half marathon in Mobile, AL during our trip. So, I ran state #27 while on our anniversary trip!
We decided to spend four days in the Gulf Shores after my race. We enjoyed quiet time away from the kids and our daily walks, even though it was in the 40s the entire time we were at the beach.
We then traveled to Atlanta and attended the G3 Conference. Some may be thinking, "Wow! That's romantic!" But here is the thing, it is only by God's grace and our relationship with Him that has gotten us this far in our marriage. We wanted to continue to grow closer to Him, which ultimately, helps us grow closer together. Plus, anyone with kids knows that just being away from the kids for a few days is vacation enough! The conference was so refreshing for our souls! We were able to sit under some amazing teaching by some of my favorite preachers: John Piper, David Platt, Voddie Baucham, Paul Washer, and more. The theme was on missions, something I am passionate about. I ended up with 83 pages of notes that I still need to read through and digest at a deeper level. It was like sitting in front of a fire hydrant trying to take in all the beauty of God's word, His heart fo us, and His heart for missions. I left there feeling spiritually charged and encouraged!
While we were at the Gulf Shores, we decided to get our pictures taken to celebrate our 20 year anniversary. As I mentioned before, four years ago when Wayne was diagnosed with brain cancer, I didn't think that we would ever make it to our 20th anniversary. I wanted to have photos to document such a momentous occasion in our lives. I reached out to Kassie from www.kassiebias.com to find out about photos. I shared with her our story and she offered to take our pictures for free! She works with Magic Hour, an organization that helps families with terminal illnesses get photographs of their loved ones before they pass away. Kassie was such an amazing photographer to work with and I hope to take the kids to the Gulf Shores soon and get family photos with her! Let me know which photos are your favorite! I am having a hard time picking a favorite!
Marriage is a beautiful thing! If you are struggling in your marriage, hang in there. Life is messy and hard, but being with the love of your life during those hard times is so much better! I realized the other day that I have officially been married to Wayne half of my life! I would never trade any of the time with Wayne for anything else the world offers. Also, make sure to treasure every moment with your spouse or loved one! None of us know when our last day will be here on earth. Let's live each moment to the fullest loving those around us!
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